pothos.org

Actually, I think that we are allowed to ask whether Persepolis was destroyed at all. I think that Persepolis could serve as a textbook-example of the mistakes we can make when we naively compare written sources with the archaeological record. It is simply too easy to add things up and immediately i...

Skip this proskynesis please, we simply don't know what happened. One argument for the idea that it is invented, BTW, is that it is absent from Arrian. He could have used this information, which shows that Alexander was fighting against a cruel and dangerous enemy; he could have used it to glorify t...

The story is from the Vulgate and can be found in QCR, Justin, and Diodorus. A literary copy of Issus is possible, but there are two strange details.One, please note that several people are said to have list their nose and ears. This is the typical Persian punishment for traitors (cf. Alexander's tr...

After Caligula, several emperors have identified themselves with Alexander: Nero, for instance, founded a unit that was called "the phalanx" (later known as the First Italian legion, and -ironically- sent to northern Macedonia, Moesia: http://www.livius.org/le-lh/legio/i_italica.html ).Lat...

Ahem, the error was in the translation. (I found it unkind towards the translator to mention this, but I see no way to keep her out of the discussion now.)The canal must really have been immense, and if it was really 8 meters deep, I can understand that it is still visible. I suppose that today, sat...

Ahem... an error. I am sorry, this is something I should have noticed. I will correct it immediately.More about Sennacherib's canal, BTW, in an old publication: Thorgild Jacobsen and Seton Lloyd, "Sennacherib's Aqueduct at Jerwan", in: *Oriental Institute Publications* 24 (1935), Chicago.A...

"Is it not possible that any indication in the Greek sources that Bessus didn't become king immediately is just due to the time it took for Alexander to find out that he had declared himself the new king?"Yes, and this is more or less the point I was making. I was suggesting that from an o...

Perhaps there's some confusion here. The Alcmeonids have reconstructed the shrine of Delphi, and Greek artists seem to have worked at the Persepolis reliefs.Jona

It is of course unusual when an author replies to a review, but it would be rather incredible if I pretended not to have read this, so one quick note:thanks Heinrich. You have done a lot of study and have seen a lot; you are the first reviewer who has noted that Bert van der Spek and I are not in co...

Dear friends,Does anybody know the oldest Greek reference to Persepolis? If I remember correctly, it is not attested in our sources before the reign of Alexander, and it has been suggested that the existence of Persepolis was a discovery made after the battle of Issus. Until then, the Greeks thought...

Pixodarus was satrap of Caria. On hearing about Philip's plan to invade Asia (early 337??), and knowing that Persia was divided, he proposed to marry his daughter to a son of Philip, who said she could marry to Arrhidaeus. Alexander felt offended and told Pixodarus that he wanted to marry his daught...

"So hire a professional translator."I am trying - or better, my publisher is trying.J

It is a nice idea, and I feel honored, but it is not possible. The Anglo-Saxon market is simply occupied by books like those by Tsouras, Worthington, and Cartledge. There is simply not enough room for another book. This is pretty common; most Continental historians therefore publish in English.Perso...

"No, but they have no problem making stuff up, i.e. the plot to kill Parmenio."This was most eloquently put forward by Heckel, not Bosworth (see Heckel's article in *Historia* 31 [1977]). More recently, Sabine M++ller (*Massnahmen der Herrschaftssicherung*, 2003) has argued that Alexander'...

"Jona For Once, I agree"Let's keep it that way, Kenny. I'm still hoping to organize some sort of pothos meeting in London, in the second half of March. I hope that we can have a guided tour along the cuneiform tablets (if the keeper allows us this kind of tourism) and perhaps have dinner w...